You guys are nasty. I thought Data Lounge was mean before I started reading these threads.

Asking for the card is reasonable. And the pleasant way they have been hitting Alt F7 to check that I qualify when I don't have my card (lost with my passport a couple of weeks ago) has come as a welcome surprise.

We only appear nasty.

We continue to be willing to answer any question the OP might have about travel, and we would be happy to buy the OP a round should we ever meet (ideally, in a MLL ;)).

But if someone persists in holding a view that I think is unreasonable, I (and others) will also continue to express contrary views.

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

Indeed. Contrary views, expressed con gusto.

Thank your for your welcome Mr. Zorn.

Well, you folks can continue to lug briefcases full of loyalty cards. I'll stick with the seven cards, keep my wallet slim and travel light. It's called organization through minimization, Shareholder.

I personally feel that it's unreasonable to present a physical card if the information required can be easily obtained by other means.

Taupo, I guess you're unaware that you actually can make a credit card purchase without using the physical credit card. I've done it on numerous occasions.

It's worth reiterating: Most organizations recognize that all they really need to determine your status is your membership number (and a photo ID if necessary).

Seven cards? You lug more cards around than I! 2 CCs, Aeroplan, Debit. It comes down to choices as to which ones you decide are important. The only reason for 2 CCs, is one business and one pleasure.

No point in arguing over that, agree to disagree. We switched grocery stores over having to carry a loyalty card. Overwaitea required the card, Safeway a phone number. Carrying the Overwaitea card was a PITA. I of course would prefer that AC could establish my MLL eligibility via my BP, however I am fine with having to produce the card. Hypocritical? Yes.

I make online purchases frequently without the physical card, just never in person.

Who said anything against a planned, slim travel wallet or other type? My comment related to exactly what you're saying: before each trip you slip in the various cards required. That really should not be an inordinate burden; one maybe two FF programs (STAR, ONEWORLD and/or SKYTEAM) if you are flying more than one alliance carrier, a card related to the hotel(s) being used, and one related to any rental car that might be on order. Then have a Visa, Amex and MasterCard and what more is there to be in your wallet? The passport or drivers license is the final standard travel document to get you pretty much anywhere on any trip.

Furthermore, with AE being turned into a frequent shopper program, the whole point of carrying the card as you might any other shopping card, is to get you to use merchants who give credits, thus requiring the card to be a basic piece of plastic carried around all the time. You may not adopt that extreme an approach, but otherwise anyone who continues to have an overstuffed wallet in the back pocket needs to re-examine their organizational skills.

Organization through minimization, Shareholder, organization through minimization. You want to spend time figuring out what cards you'll need on each trip and then putting them in a separate wallet? You go right ahead, my friend. I don't carry a card for rental companies, I give them my number and I get a car. You want to carry a few cards because it's more convenient? Go for it. I don't bother with hotel cards either, but I'm a patron of four programs. You want to carry some more cards you don't really need? Well, I'm sure you have plenty of room in your second wallet. Anyone who needs two wallets needs to re-examine their organizational skills. ;)

You're right that any given card is not an inordinate burden, but neither was that last straw on the camel's back.

The point I'm making, and I want to make this clear, is that organizations want you to carry a card for their convenience, not yours. You want to subject yourself to their rule? That's your choice. There is absolutely no viable reason why you should have to show your card in a Maple Leaf lounge in order to gain access. (For those who missed it, the reason a card is unnecessary is that your name, number and status can be easily verified on the lounge administrator's computer.)

True. But they own/rent the lounge, they make the rules, they provide the free booze, magazines, soup and showers. If you want to play on their court with their ball, you play on their terms. If you don't want to subject yourself to their rules, that's your choice too - but they don't need to let you in.

Who cares whose convenience it is?

You want to be sure you enter their lounge (or a partner's) then you have to follow their rules.

It doesn't get much more complicated than that, Arabian desert creatures notwithstanding.

Simon

Ah, I see - and if their rules say you should dance like a monkey, you'd dance. ;)

Just out of curiosity, when you were a child and asked your parents why you had to do something they asked, did they often respond with "Because I said so"?

If they told me I could have their banana if I danced, and I wanted their banana badly enough, yes I would. Two other options are: 1) just take it anyway, but that just seems wrong, 2) argue with them and when they don't change their rules, post the results on MonkeyTalk.

What my parents said or didn't say when I was a child has nothing to do with carrying an Aeroplan card when travelling and is frankly not for public display.

Heh, heh, no but it explains your willingness to do what you're told and not question authority.

At this point I think it's worth quoting George Bernard Shaw "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

I'm sure there are more pithy quotes about "picking your battles" than there are about changing the world via not carrying FF membership cards.

And I shall (mis)quote John Bradford. "There but for the grace of the Maple Leaf Lounge Attendants go I."

At least the reasonable man won't find himself in an early grave because of high blood pressure and ulcers; trophies both of his fight to adapt the world to himself. ;)

At this point I think we can agree to disagree. I'm very scared of authority and I don't want the Mods to wrap my knuckles for hogging this thread.

Let me remind you that this thread is about using the maple leaf lounge without a card, not discussions of any FT poster's childhood experiences, posting style, motivations for posting, ways in which they deal with "authority" etc.